Tree of Life Lutheran Bible Camp

Archived News and Events

Note: For confidentiality reasons, meeting minutes have been
removed from our public web pages as of 11/8/2015. Participating
congregations can contact the secretary to inspect the minutes.

Archived news

2017

7/20/2017: Staff, parents, campers, and other interested WELS members are welcome to come to the Tree of Life 2017 post-camp business meeting and party. See more details under Events below.

6/11/2017: The camp activities schedule for 2017 is now available on our download page. Thanks go to Jordan Hochmuth, our Activities Director.

5/21/2017: We've received word about state regulations that will require first aid and CPR training as well as background checks for counselors and the camp director. If you are planning to be a counselor, you will need to get training! If this is a financial hardship for you, we can reimburse you for the expense; contact a camp board member.

4/16/2017: Staff applications for 2017 are now being accepted either online or on paper. See the staff information page.

4/9/2017: Our camp theme for 2017 is Undefeated in Christ. Our 2017 poster, logo (see top of this page!), and bulletin insert are available on the download page.

2/27/2017: Our next Board of Directors meeting has been moved up
to Sunday, March 5; see Events below.

Thanks to the folks whose checks were lost in the mail when we
sent our July 6 deposit in to our bank! All nine families wrote
us new checks after we contacted them.

1/28/2017: Thrivent Financial members, you can direct Thrivent
to donate money to Tree of Life!
See this
page for information. Act soon; the 2017 program closes on March 31.

2016

7/30/2016 (update): Our July 6 bank deposit, consisting of 9
checks totaling $6090, was lost either in the mail or by our
bank. We are trying to contact the folks who wrote those checks to
ask them to stop payment on their checks and write us new checks.
So far seven of the nine have responded. Please respond if you
are contacted.

3/27/2016: The 2016 camper and staff application forms are now
available on the downloads
page. Thanks to Holly Marquardt for sprucing up the camper
form!

2/28/2016: The camp board met today. Among other business, we set
the new fees for 2016; see below. A small increase was necessary
because Capital Mountain is charging us more this year. Our camp
is still a great bargain! Also note that the date of the June board
meeting has changed to June 5. The board viewed the 2015 camp video
DVD at today's meeting, and copies will be sent out soon (this
time for sure!).

2015

11/8/2015: The camp board of directors met today. Greg Pluckhan
was elected chairman, Noel Ledermann secretary, and Tim Mann
treasurer. The board discussed the input from the post-camp
general membership meeting and our action items for the 2016 camp.
We set the meeting dates for 2016; see below. Additional news:
The 2015 camp video DVD is complete! Copies will be made and
mailed to campers and staff soon, hopefully before Thanksgiving.

6/27/2015: Full minutes from the 6/13/2015 board meeting are now
available on the downloads page.
Staff orientation is coming up tomorrow!

6/13/2015: A board meeting was held today. We've had excellent
response on staff applications and have a pretty complete staff
now. There is still lots of room for more campers. The
T-Shirt design is ready to go!

5/23/2015: A board meeting was held this past Sunday.
We still need lots more counselor applications! Camper
applications are just starting to trickle in. By request,
we've added a sample schedule
to the web page. Update: Minutes have been added to the
downloads page.

3/8/2015: Camper and staff application forms are now
available on the downloads page!

3/7/2015: Full minutes from the 3/1/2015 board meeting are now
available on the downloads page.
Camper fees will remain the same as last year. This year's theme
will be "God's Outfitters — Guide and Gear for Life."

2014

12/7/2014: Full minutes from the 11/9/2014 board meeting are now
available on the downloads page.

11/9/2014: At today's board meeting Greg Pluckhan was elected
chairman. The other board officers are continuing in the same
positions. Camp fees are tentatively planned to stay the same as
last year, depending on whether Capital Mountain will be
increasing what they charge us. Meeting dates for 2015 were set;
see below. Full minutes will be posted later.

11/9/2014: Minutes from the 7/25/2014 post-camp meeting are
available on the downloads page.
Congratulations to new (rejoining) board member Greg Pluckhan,
and many thanks to retiring board member and chairman Steve Pechin.

7/25/2014: Another much-blessed week at Bible camp! We had 85 campers
this year, 11 more than last year. We don't have any photos to
post here yet, but there are a few in our Facebook group. If you
have camp photos that can go on our web site, please contact the
webmaster! Dates for next year's camp are July 12-18, 2015.

7/25/2014: This year's post-camp meeting will be hosted by
Greg Pluckhan at his home in Orangevale. Staff and campers are
invited to share ideas and comments to improve future camps. This
is also our annual General Membership meeting where Board of
Directors elections are held. See the flyer for details.

6/29/2014: We had a great staff orientation meeting today.
There are plenty of counselors to cover all groups, and there
is room in all cabins for more campers.
So send in your applications!

6/8/2014: Minutes from today's board meeting
are available on the downloads page.
The 2013 camp video is now available. DVDs copies will be mailed
out to last year's campers soon, or you can watch it now from
the web; see above!

5/18/2014: The board meeting scheduled for today has been
postponed. Tentatively, it will be on 6/8/2014 at St. Mark's,
Citrus Heights. Minutes from the 3/2/2014 board
meeting are available on the downloads page.

4/13/2014: Camper and staff registration forms for 2014
are now available on the downloads page.
Feel free to register early!

4/5/2014: The camp 2013 DVD is still being worked on. Work had to
be started over by another volunteer after the first efforts were
lost in a hard drive crash.

2/8/2014: The next board meeting has been postponed to 3/2/2014 due to
various conflicting events.

2013

Take a look at what camp is like in the 2013 camp video!
Thanks to those who took the photos and to David Covey for
editing the video.

11/10/2013: News from today's board meeting: We are still working
on the DVD of the 2013 camp. Expect it to be mailed out before
the end of the year. Camp dates for 2014 have been set
as July 13-19 — not the following week as previously announced!
Camp fees will remain unchanged again this year; see below.

8/17/2013: Minutes from the 8/11/2013 post-camp general membership
meeting are available on the downloads page.
Congratulations to new board member Jordan Hochmuth, and thanks to
outgoing board member Greg Pluckhan!

8/9/2013: Minutes from the 6/30/2013 pre-camp (orientation)
meeting are available on the downloads page.

7/26/2013: Hundreds of photos from Camp 2013 are up
in our gallery now! Thanks to all who
contributed them. We will gladly take more; email the webmaster
to work out how best to get yours to us.

7/23/2013: The post-camp meeting and barbeque has been
moved to August 11. Location will be Pastor Mueller's home in
Livermore. See Events below.

7/11/2013: Camp is next week! There is still room for last minute
registrations in all groups, but please email or phone as soon as
possible so that we can do the cabin assignments ahead of time and
save time when you arrive at camp.

6/15/2013: The 2013 T-Shirt design, as well as minutes
of the 5/19/2013 board meeting, are
now available on the downloads page.

5/11/2013: The camper and staff application packet for 2013
is now available on the downloads
page. Individual single-page application forms are available
too. You can also download a proof copy of the 2013 camp poster.

4/6/2013: Minutes of the 3/17/2013 board meeting are now
available on the downloads page.
Camp fees will remain the same as last year; see below.

2/17/2013: Minutes of the 11/17/2012 board meeting are now belatedly
available on the downloads page.
Camp theme for 2013 will be "Road Trips with Jesus."

2012

8/6/2012: We had a fun and productive post-camp meeting yesterday.
Patrick Johnson was elected to the board of directors
— welcome, Patrick! The camp video DVD made by Kris
Butcher is done and being distributed now. It looks great! If
you were at camp, you should be getting yours soon, either through
your church or by mail. A copy is also being sent to the pastor
at each of our supporting churches. Or you can
watch it here
if you have a fast Internet connection.

7/22/2012: We had a great week at camp, with good weather and an
enthusiastic group of campers and staff. Kris Butcher is making a
DVD of camp photos and video, to be mailed to the campers
and staff.

6/10/2012:
Minutes of the 6/3/2012 board meeting
are now available on the downloads page.
The general membership meeting with election of board members and officers
has been postponed to the post-camp meeting.

5/13/2012:
The next board meeting (including the annual General Membership meeting)
has been postponed until 6/3/2012.

3/25/2012:
Minutes of the 3/25/2012 board meeting
are now available on the downloads page.

2/26/2012:
Camper and staff application forms are now available on the
downloads page!
Camp fees for 2012 have been set.

1/22/2012:
Minutes of the 1/15/2012 board meeting
are now available on the downloads page.

1/15/2012: We held a board meeting today to discuss the
input from the post-camp meeting and kick off planning for the
2012 camp. Here are some
highlights: There will be a small fee increase this year, but we
plan to include a camp t-shirt for every camper, plus a souvenir
DVD to take home with photos and videos of the week. The exact
fees will be set early in February and we'll update this web site
with the information. We also set the calendar for this year; see
Events below.

2011

11/22/2011: The next board meeting has been postponed until
Sunday January 15, 2012, 2:30pm at Good Shepherd Lutheran
Church in Vallejo.

7/31/2011: We had a great post-camp meeting in Vallejo today
with lots of positive discussion and ideas for making camp stronger
in the future. We've added over 120 photos from Pastor Will Kant
to our camp photo gallery, with more to come
from other camp photographers.

7/19/2011: Our 2011 camp is over, but our shared faith and
friendship go on! Join our
new Facebook
group, and take a look at our camp photo
gallery. The photo gallery is just getting started, with a
few photos and short video clips from Tim Mann. We'll be adding
more photos over the coming weeks. Please let the webmaster know
if you have some camp photos for us!

6/4/2011:
Minutes of the 5/22/2011 board meeting
are available on the downloads page.

3/13/2011:
Camp rates for 2011 will be the same as 2010 (see below)!
Camper and staff application forms
are available on the downloads page.

3/12/2011:
Minutes of the 3/6/2011 board meeting
are available on the downloads page.

2/20/2011:
Minutes of the 11/7/2010 board meeting
are belatedly available on the downloads page.

8/3/2010:
Check out the 2010 camp photos in
our photo gallery! Pastor Kant's photos were uploaded
today, bringing our total to about 250. Please let the
webmaster know if you have more camp photos for us.

Minutes of the 8/2/2009 post-camp meeting
are now available on the downloads page.

7/25/2009: Fireproof, the theme song from our 2009
camp, is now available on the music page.

7/5/2009: Camp is coming up soon! We still have room, but please
email or call if you have not sent your application yet.

7/5/2009: Minutes of the 6/14/2009 and 6/28/2009 meetings
are now available on the downloads page.

6/30/2009: Minutes of the May 17 board meeting
are now available on the downloads page.

3/3/2009: Camper and staff application forms
are now available on the downloads page.
Minutes of the March 1 board meeting are there too.

2008

11/26/2008: Minutes of the annual meeting on November 9
are now available on the downloads page.
Fees for 2009 were set at this meeting; see below.

8/11/2008: Official minutes of the
post-camp feedback meeting on August 3
are now available on the downloads page,
along with the unofficial notes that were posted earlier.

8/8/2008: Camp is over for 2008, but the memories live on in
almost 900 photos!

8/8/2008: Minutes of the
post-camp feedback meeting on August 3
are now available on the downloads page.

7/21/2008: Camp is over for this year, but the memories live on in
over 400 photos. We'll upload another large
batch of photos after the post-camp meeting on August 3. See below
for meeting details.

6/7/2008: Minutes of the June 29 board meeting
are available on the downloads page.

3/2/2008: Camper and staff application forms for 2008 are
available now on the downloads page.

2007

11/11/2007: Camp rates and meeting dates were set
at the November board meeting; see below.

10/18/2007: Camp dates for 2008 have been set to
July 13-19. We received quite a bit of feedback that last
year's mid-June dates were too early, and fortunately we had the
opportunity to book a mid-July date for 2008.

8/14/2007: Minutes of the July post-camp evaluation
meeting are on the downloads page.
If you have additional comments about the 2007 camp or suggestions
for next year, feel free to email them to the webmaster.

6/24/2007: Another great camp ended yesterday, and we took
lots of pictures! Visit our photo gallery
to see them.

3/11/2007: T-shirt contest winners were chosen at today's
board meeting. Thanks to a special donation, all campers and
staff will receive a free camp t-shirt this year!

2/18/2007: Camper and staff application forms for 2007 are
now available on the downloads page.

2006

11/12/2006: Camp rates and meeting schedule for 2007
have been set; see below.

9/30/2006: Camp dates for 2007 have been set; see below.
Please note that we are moving camp to mid-June!

5/20/2007: New camp video promo uploaded (see above).

4/22/2006: Camper and staff application forms for 2006 are
on the downloads page.

2/25/2006: Rates for 2006 have been set; see below.
The theme for 2006 is REALITY? – LIFE WITH JESUS!

2005

10/16/2005: Updated the calendar for 2006 below, including
definite camp dates. We will be holding camp at Capital Mountain
again this year.

Sunday 6/25/2017, 2:30pm: Staff orientation meeting.
Location: Good
Shepherd Lutheran Church, Vallejo. It is strongly recommended
that you attend the staff orientation meeting in person, even if you
have been a staff member before. For those who absolutely cannot
attend in person, we plan to make an audio/video feed available
at https://www.gotomeet.me/GDLuth. Click on the link to join via
computer or to get the phone number to join via telephone.

Sunday 7/9/2017 – Saturday 7/15/2017:
Camp dates for 2017.

Check-in time for campers is 6:00pm – 7:00pm Sunday.
There will be no Sunday evening meal.

Saturday 7/29/2017, 1:30pm: Post-camp feedback meeting. Staff,
campers, and parents are invited to attend this meeting and give
feedback on this year's camp to help us improve for next year. The
annual general membership meeting with elections to the Board of
Directors will also be held at this time. Location: Annette Smith's
home in Lodi. See details on our Facebook page.

Sunday 8/7/2016, 3:00pm (NEW DATE/TIME):
Post-camp feedback meeting.
Staff, campers, and parents are invited to attend this meeting and
give feedback on this year's camp to help us improve for next year.
The annual general membership meeting with elections to the Board
of Directors will also be held at this time.
Location: Annette Smith's home in Lodi, CA. Hamburgers, Hot dogs and drinks will be provided. Please bring side dishes or dessert.

Sunday 8/2/2015, 3:00pm:
Post-camp feedback meeting.
Staff, campers, and parents are invited to attend this meeting and
give feedback on this year's camp to help us improve for next year.
The annual general membership meeting with elections to the Board
of Directors will also be held at this time.
Location: To be determined.

Sunday 8/3/2014, 3:00pm:
Post-camp feedback meeting.
Staff, campers, and parents are invited to attend this meeting and
give feedback on this year's camp to help us improve for next year.
The annual general membership meeting with elections to the Board
of Directors will also be held at this time.
Location: Greg Pluckhan's home in Orangevale.
See flyer.

Sunday 8/11/2013, 2:30pm:
Post-camp feedback meeting, followed by a barbeque.
Staff, campers, and parents are invited to attend this meeting and
give feedback on this year's camp to help us improve for next year.
The annual general membership meeting with elections to the Board
of Directors will also be held at this time.
Location: Pastor Muller's home,
5722 Haggin Oaks Ave.,
Livermore, CA 94551, phone 925-371-5565.

Sunday 8/5/2012, 2:30pm:
Post-camp feedback meeting at
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, LIVERMORE.
(Not Vallejo!)
Staff, campers, and parents are invited to attend this meeting and
give feedback on this year's camp to help us improve for next year.
The annual general membership meeting with elections to the Board
of Directors will also be held at this time. A barbeque will follow
at Pastor Mueller's home.

Sunday 7/31/2011, 2:30pm:
Post-camp feedback meeting at
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Vallejo.
Staff, campers, and parents are invited to attend this meeting and
give feedback on this year's camp to help us improve for next year.

Sunday 8/1/2010, 3:00pm:
Post-camp feedback meeting at
Good Shepherd, Livermore.
Staff, campers, and parents are invited to attend this meeting and
give feedback on this year's camp to help us improve for next year.

Sunday August 2, 2009, 3:00pm:
Post-camp feedback meeting at
Good Shepherd, Livermore.
Staff, campers, and parents are invited to attend this meeting and
give feedback on this year's camp to help us improve for next year.

Sunday July 12 – Saturday July 18, 2009:
Camp dates for 2009.

Check-in time for campers is 6:00pm – 7:00pm Sunday.
There will be no Sunday evening meal.

Sunday August 3, 2008, 2:30pm:
Post-camp feedback meeting at
Good Shepherd, Livermore.
Staff, campers, and parents are invited to attend this meeting and
give feedback on this year's camp to help us improve for next year.

Sunday July 13 – Saturday July 19, 2008:
Camp dates for 2008.

Check-in time for campers is 6:00pm – 7:00pm Sunday.
There will be no Sunday evening meal.

June 22, 2008:
Camper applications should be submitted by this date. Late
applications are accepted on a space-available bases. Please
telephone or email us if your application will be late. (Contact
information is provided on the application form.)

April 27, 2008:
Staff application forms should be submitted to the camp staffing
committee by this date. Please give your completed form to your
pastor for his evaluation and signature well ahead of time. Late
staff applications are often accepted, but please apply as early
as possible so that we are not scrambling for staff at the last minute!

Sunday March 2, 2008, 2:30pm:
Annual general membership meeting with elections to Board of
Directors, at Good Shepherd, Livermore.
All our sponsoring churches are invited to send representatives to
the annual meeting. The usual agenda includes electing directors
and officers, discussing the annual financial report, and ongoing
planning for this year's camp.

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